Entropy
by Tadpole24
Summary: "Every new beginning starts from some other beginning's end." BB oneshot. Based on some speculation for the finale.


**Sigh...I can't study with the looming season finale. I keep thinking of little bits and pieces to write and when I think of them, I have to write them, even if it means that the fic is slightly...unstructured. lol. **

**I don't really know where this came from, but it is a small glimpse at many things and I hope you enjoy it and understand it. :)**

**Disclaimer: At this point I'd settle for owning Booth...I mean, if I can't have Bones...actually, I'll just take Booth anyway. :)**

..:::..

Entropy

..:::..

_Everything has a story. Everyone has a story._

_What is this woman's story?_

..:::..

Change is inevitable.

"_Nothing's gonna change between me and you."_

Change occurs all around us, it's in the air we breathe, it's in the glow of the sun, it's in the subtle drift from cool to warm, from winter to spring.

"_Entropy is a natural force that pulls everything apart at a subatomic level. Everything changes."_

She knew it back then, she knew that everything could change, she had been open to change, more open then perhaps she had been now. She understood the laws of nature, she understood science. She understood that if her partner told her he wouldn't let her fall, then she would not fall. His word was logic to her, it may not have started out that way, but she had grown to trust him, grown to care for him and grown to even consider the notion of loving him. She had grown, she thought she had changed.

"_Not everything, Bones."_

And therein lay the seed of doubt. He planted a thought in her mind, and let it grow. He planted the thought that perhaps not everything changes. He had opened her heart, he had opened her eyes, these were not things of science, they were things of emotion. Things which she knew nothing about.

And if science is golden, if science is what she knows, then she can't have a hope of understanding emotions. So Booth's logic is golden also...

Not everything changes.

Which is why she couldn't.

Won't.

Can't.

..:::..

_What life is she leading? Is it the same life the woman was leading half an hour ago? A day ago? A year ago?_

..:::..

The truth is she has changed though.

Whether she can see it or not is another thing.

She watches as Booth lives his life, trying to forget her and she wishes that she could be one of those women who believed that love could last an eternity. She wishes that she could be the one who lived in that happy state for the rest of her life with the man that she loved.

Loves.

She loves him. And is yet, unable to see how much she has changed.

She freely accepts the notion of love now, she freely accepts that she feels it; she freely accepts that he feels it towards her, and yet, the evidence of love being a lasting entity is inconclusive.

She shuts down, pushes him away and constructs a series of intricate walls around her.

She claims doesn't know how to change, and yet, she already has.

..:::..

_A storm approaches. A still over the horizon, but there is lightning in the air._

_The first hint of this storm is not a thunderclap, it is a knock._

..:::..

Catherine is brilliant. Catherine is beautiful. Catherine is fun. Catherine is easy to be with.

But he misses the challenge, he misses the chemistry, he misses the sexual tension. Oh, it has been a while for him, and Catherine is stunning, but he just can't bring himself to do that. And when he sits down and thinks about what it is that he is refraining from doing, he calls Catherine immediately and breaks things off with her.

Seeley Booth is a gentleman, through and through and the mere thought of using Catherine...

He shudders.

Just because he can't have the one he loves, does not mean he has to love the one he's with.

It's funny how fate works. She may say she doesn't believe in it, but the evidence is too conclusive to deny on this one. As her partner hangs up the phone, she knocks at his door, her heart still pounding from the realization that she had while she was at dinner. Her stomach in knots and her palms sweaty.

Andrew had understood when she told him she could no longer commit to their social contract.

It would only be expected though. The partners work so well in sync that even their break-up's occur at the same time.

..:::..

_Every new beginning starts from some other beginnings end._

..:::..

He holds her and she holds him. It's not sexual, it's not a hug of love or desperation, it's just two people holding each other up, neither of them knowing what the other has just gone through and neither of them wanting to let go and face reality.

They're just two friends in the doorway holding each other the way that they need to, the way that they haven't in so long.

"I've missed you."

He breaks the silence, pulling back to look at her.

Her eyes are shining with unshed tears and it is a rare glimpse at her vulnerability that he has been privy to more often than even Angela.

She blinks and rests her hand on his cheek, tilting her head, contemplating.

He just looks at her, finally able to look and not feel guilty, finally able to look and not have to turn away at the last second. He looks at her every feature, from her blue eyes, to her pink lips, her flushed cheeks to her slightly curled hair. He takes it all in, his eyes not blinking, unable to stop roaming her face.

"Do you love me?"

Booth is taken from his careful analysis of her features by a sweet sounding voice, not the usual sure voice of his partner, but definitely hers nonetheless, "Yeah. Do you want me to prove it to you?"

She nods, reaching up to brush her lips along his, "If you're not too sleepy."

..:::..

_People say you only live once, but they are as wrong about that as they are about everything._

..:::..

Everything changes, including her.

She only needed the evidence to prove it.

..:::..

**How'd you go lovelies?**

**Drop me a review. :)**

**Em**


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